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Road to Nowhere?

Updated June 12, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

The cycle of spin in the Middle East is predictable by now, but that makes it no less disappointing. Hamas's weekend raid, which killed five Israelis, was carried out with the stated purpose of derailing the "road map" sponsored by the U.S., the EU, the U.N. and Russia. And yet when Israel attempted Tuesday to stave off future attacks with a missile strike directed at one of Hamas's architects of terror, it was Israel that received the blame for throwing up an obstacle to peace.